This kind of goes away from my normal posts, but I found this site via Boing Boing TV and thought it was hilarious. It’s called Gay Friday and tells the story of Jason from Friday the 13th as if he were actually gay. It’s very amusing. Each episode is at most a minute long. Unfortunately, right now the site seems to be down or really slow as I can’t connect, but here’s the Boing Boing TV episode which shows the last Gay Friday episode I saw.
Update: You can actually find the Gay Friday episodes at Invisible Engine.
I hadn’t written about the beers I’ve tried recently. There’s a couple. I’ll go in chronological order.
First up is Old Leghumper from Thirsty Dog Brewing Company. It’s an American Porter (not a Barley Wine like the name would suggest). The beer pours a dark brown with a moderate tan head. Smells of chocolate, caramel, coffee, and roasted malts hit the nose. It smells pretty good. Unfortunately, the taste isn’t quite as good. The smells I mentioned are all present in the flavor, which is good, but there’s a pretty strong metallic aftertaste. This ruined it for me. The mouthfeel was a little on the thin side as well. While the beer isn’t bad, it’s nothing super special and not something I think I’d buy again as there are plenty other porters which I like much better… which leads me to the next one…
Next was Stovepipe Porter from Otter Creek. Also an American Porter, this one pours a similar dark brown with moderate tan head. In fact, just about everything about this beer was the same as the previous one minus the metallic aftertaste. The flavor was mostly roasted coffee with a bit of chocolate and caramel to it. Some light hops bitterness was detectable. This was a much more flavorful beer that finished nicely. The beer had a nice consistency and was very drinkable. This is a really good porter.
Finally, tonight’s beer was Oaked Aged Yeti from Great Divide. Susan and I sort of split it as it came from a 22 oz. bomber (sort of because she only drank about a third of hers, leaving the rest for me). This is a Russian Imperial Stout (though it’s from Colorado). The beer pours a thick black color with a nice tan head. Smells of vanilla, roasted malt, and chocolate dominate. The flavor is spectacular. Now I’m a big fan of Great Divide’s beers (one of my favorite breweries), but this one is just awesome. The vanilla character from the oak aging and some oaky flavors come through at first, followed by the roasted malts and some coffee and chocolate undertones, and a nice hops bitterness at the end. It’s a bit thick, though that’s the way a good stout should be. At 9.5% ABV, it’s a bit on the strong side, and it’s slightly noticeable in the taste, though the other flavors tend to dominate. I’m definitely feeling this one (having had about 5/6 of the bottle for myself). It lacks a bit in drinkability (mainly because of the alcohol content), but makes up for that in flavor. I give this beer two thumbs up and highly recommend it to any stout lover (or even a whiskey drinker looking to get into good beer).
Thus ends the beers I’ve forgotten to write about. Friday should bring along another tasting (and tomorrow should bring another beer, unless it’s a repeat, which is possible).
I saw 2 things come through today on Boing Boing Gadgets that seemed pretty cool to me.
The first is a very small and inexpensive laptop, the Asus Eee PC. It’s now available at Newegg.com. It’s a ultra portable laptop with a 7″ widescreen display. It has an Intel Centrino processor running at 900 MHz (which may not seem fast, but apparently it’s fast enough). It has 512 MB of RAM and a 4 GB solid state hard drive. It doesn’t sound like it’d be a powerhouse, but it runs Linux, which handles older or less powerful hardware better than Windows. Apparently, the only drawback to it is that the keyboard is smaller, but not too difficult to use. It would make for a great second computer or portable to take with you on the road to get on the web and do some smaller tasks. It’s $400. I also read that they’re going to supply an 8 GB solid state hard drive and a 2 GB version with 256 MB of RAM for those worried about the cost.
The other one is a bag strap that has built-in bungee cords, called Superbungee Strap from Skooba. The idea is that the strap will take more of the strain off your back than the standard static straps that come with most bags (specifically laptop bags). I have this issue where I get a sharp pain in my right hip. I carry my laptop bag on my left shoulder and tend to lean to hold it up. While I should probably just switch sides, I find it more comfortable on the left. I think this strap would take some of that strain off of me. It might also help if I ever decide to start walking to work (or at least to the bus stop/station and take the bus to work). Unfortunately, the strap is $26. Hopefully they’ll start including it on some bags (though I do like the bag I use everyday, which I happened to get for free, though it does say “Dell” on it, but it also says ResNet).
Google is still popping up on the news sites. The first thing is that they’re very slowly (much slower I would assume than the IMAP rollout) rolling out a new version of the Gmail interface. The differences that I’ve read about are an improved contacts management page and more integration and improvement of Google Talk/chat. It’s also supposed to make Gmail faster. Now I don’t know how anyone will notice it since Gmail is already very responsive and smooth, but faster wouldn’t hurt. Screenshots are here. Official word from Gmail Blog.
The second thing they’re in the news about is about an open social networking API, which they are expected to announce tomorrow. It’s not a social network, like Facebook, Myspace, or Google’s own Orkut. Instead, it’s a set of API’s designed to make writing applications and tie-ins for the social networks more accessible using JavaScript and HTML. It will create a single API for several social networking sites, leaving developers responsible for learning only one new language rather than several. And since it uses JavaScript and HTML, there’s probably not a whole lot of new learning for most web developers. It’s called OpenSocial.
Finally, this popped up on Slashdot as I was writing this. The GooglePhone has long been rumored to be in the making. Google has said it isn’t, others have said they’re lying and there is one. Apparently, it’s not actually a phone, but a mobile operating system for a phone. This, unfortunately, does not tie together with their interest in the 700 MHz spectrum. However, there is now talk of Google talking to Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile about providing phones that run their mobile operating system. This would give Google a large established customer base.
Published on
October 30, 2007 in
Music.
According to a Wired article, vinyl is going to bring upon the death of CD’s. Now I’m a music purist and all, but this just sounds ridiculous. The article makes great points about how vinyl can have better sound and all that because of the push to make CD’s louder through audio compression. The reasoning behind doing so is that people are stupid and loud music obviously sounds better. Since you can’t compress anything on vinyl, you get the original sound. Other arguments involve the album cover artwork and liner notes.
While I do agree with the thing about loud music, I don’t buy anything this article is saying. First, vinyl is huge. CD’s are at least somewhat portable, though not as portable as MP3′s. The article mentions an indie band in San Francisco that is planning on releasing their new album as MP3 and vinyl only, no CD (those crazy hippies out there). Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. First, most people, even a lot of music purists and audiophiles, don’t have a turntable. Second, a decent turntable costs quite a bit of money, while most component CD players perform about the same so long as you have a decent receiver and speakers (though I’m sure an audiophile will reply to this and argue otherwise) and so long it’s not the cheapest CD player you could find.
Now let’s say that vinyl sales are on the rise (which they claim they are), very few bands in the grand scheme of things are releasing anything on vinyl, making it a very moot point. There also some inherent flaws with vinyl, such as warping and scratching. A CD can be scratched and most people won’t notice it (they tend not to warp unless exposed to extreme heat). Vinyl, when scratched, is quite noticeable by everybody. There’s that noticeable hiss and the skipping depending on how scratched it is.
Finally, there seems to be this need from technophiles to put an end to the CD. I don’t know why there’s this need, the CD offers great sounding music (assuming it wasn’t made “louder” through compression), no DRM, in a relatively portable format that can easily be transferred to other formats (MP3, analog cassette, other CD’s, etc.). Vinyl is not quite so easy to transfer to those other format, though it is definitely an open format, but that’s because it’s not digital. Until there’s another convenient open format like the CD, this music purist will continue to buy CD’s. There’s no need for me to buy a turntable.
Discussion at Slashdot
I finally have IMAP as part of my Gmail settings! Don’t really have much else to say. Perhaps I’ll write a review of it later on in the week when I get the latest Thunderbird and start using it again. I’m excited though. I would assume that anyone who was still waiting for it should check their Gmail accounts because you probably have it now as I’m usually the last to get anything cool.
This one is from a few nights ago. I tried Unibroue’s La Fin Du Monde (which translates from French to “The End of the World”). This is a Belgian-style Strong Pale Ale (though this is better than some actual Belgians I’ve had). Unibroue is from Quebec, Canada and is known for making excellent Belgian-style beers. This one was no different.
The beer pours a hazy orange-yellow color with a nice 2 finger head and ample carbonation. Scents of fruit, spices, and general sweetness fill the nose. The taste is again of those spices, I detected some cloves, the fruitiness (hard to detect anything specific, though I think there was some orange, lemon and some sweeter citrus flavors), and some sugary sweetness as well. The malt and yeast make it a little bready and dry, but don’t take that as a bad thing. The only thing I noticed in the taste that did anything negative was a little bit of the alcohol, though at 9%, it’s not easy to hide.
All in all, this is a very good beer, something I would definitely drink over and over again (though perhaps not in the same sitting). As I said, I enjoyed this better than some of the other Belgian beers of this style (Duvel probably being the most common example, of which I was not big fan). This is a must try. I think I’m going to have to try more of their beers (I’ve had Trois Pistoles and really liked it).
In addition to the Gueuze I had tonight, I decided to have another, which ended up being Magic Hat’s Blind Faith, an English IPA. Now I’m normally used to the hoppy flavor of American IPA’s, which has a nice bitterness. I wasn’t impressed by this one, but I don’t know if I was simply expecting the same as a nice American IPA or if it just isn’t that good. I’d like to think the former because Magic Hat tends to be known for their beers (though I have yet to have one I was really thrilled with, except for a porter they had, which I’m not sure they still make).
Anyway, the beer pours like your standard IPA, amber in color with a decent head. The smell is hops, but not the piney/citrusy hops I am used to. It’s a bit more muted. The flavor is bitter, but a different kind of bitter. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but something didn’t seem right (perhaps it was the fact that this bottle came from the back of the shelf and had some dust on it, making it a little too old). The bitterness definitely came from the hops and there were malt flavors to balance it out, but something still tasted a bit off.
I’d rate this pretty low, though I would try it again. I really need to start over with Magic Hat. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot because people seem to love them. Perhaps I’ll buy one of their mix packs at some point soon (either that or grab all the singles I can find at Nikki’s).
Tonight I decided to try one of the most expensive beers I have every purchased, Girardin Gueuze 1882 Black Label. I was a little nervous when I bought it (at $8.79 for a bottle just over 12 ounces, it’s more expensive than many people pay for a 6 pack). I was told that it’s super funky right from the smell, so I was worried that it might be like smelly feet. I am glad I was wrong.
The beer smells almost like a champagne (and looks like one as well with fewer bubbles). It’s a light amber color with a thick light tan head that doesn’t stay very long. The smell is different, but it smells like the beer might be a little tart, and a little fruity. The taste is very tart, but smooth. It doesn’t hit you like champagne, but has a similar flavor. There’s some tart lemon, tart apple, and tart grape flavors to it. It’s dry and makes you pucker a bit, but it’s still very drinkable.
All in all, this was an excellent beer, well worth the money. If you decide to try it, don’t go into it thinking it tastes like the normal idea of beer. This is quite different. It’s almost a wine or a champagne because of the flavors and also the way it’s made (it’s a blend of lambics, which are, themselves, blended). The style, in case anyone was wondering is Gueuze (and this one happened to be unfiltered, apparently there’s a white label of the same beer, which is filtered).
After 3 years, a new version of the GIMP was released. As I’ve said before, it’s my favorite image/photo editor. All the images I made for this site (the header images and a few of the little banner/buttons on the right sidebar) were created using the GIMP. Along with the new version, they also redesigned their website (which I really like by the way). I can’t wait for version 3 to be released. Visit the GIMP website for more info, read the release notes to see the changes, and download it. You won’t regret it.
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